Charges against Spalding and Artist dismissed

Don Reid dwreid@aol.com DReidTDR

Thursday

May 17, 2018 at 10:25 AMMay 17, 2018 at 10:25 AM

COLDWATER — “At this point, there has been a clear violation of the court’s discovery order from the November Court date. I have no other recourse than to dismiss the charge against Mr. Spalding and against Mr. Artist,” Branch County Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Valerie White said Wednesday afternoon.

Attorney’s for retired Quincy High School Principal David Spalding and retired Superintendent Craig Artist had filed motions to dismiss charges against their clients. Both were charged with a 93-day misdemeanor for failure to report suspected abuse against a fem ale student by form er drama mentor Jason Ferrell. Neither would comment after the decision.

White said the prosecutor’s office had not been provided field notes which were disclosed to defense attorney T.J. Reed for the Wednesday hearing.

“I was unaware they existed,” White said.

White said that Branch County Sheriff Sgt. Mike Gatke told her he did not understand the order from Branch County District Judge Brent Weigle that disclosing all information to the defense applied to the field notes.

White said before a November 7hearing she had gone through the existing files in the case with the attorneys, page-by- page, but at the hearing, Gatke, the investigating officer, said there was another part of the report that had not been provided. White conferred with veteran assistant prosecutor G. Scott Smith.

“I realize this decision may be painful to the mother and step-father of the victim of the sexual abuse,” the prosecutor said.

The charges requested by Sgt. Gatke reflected that the two administrators failed to report the suspected sexual contact in April 2016. Smith noted that at that time the sexual relations had not occurred and did not begin until the summer of 2016.

“The victim in this case was still being manipulated by (Ferrell) and the abuse had not occurred,” he said.

Sgt. Gatke agreed that he had told Artist in December there was an investigation of Ferrell underway but there was nothing confirmed.

It was January 2017 when Ferrell resigned after he was confronted about the investigation.

The 16-year-old victim had denied any sexual contact with Ferrell until late April 2017.

According to a Department of Human Services staff the first report to the central abuse hotline came April 12, from Sgt. Gatke against the girl’s parents. They said there was no other report before then. According to the report, “There was concern for failure to provide proper care and supervision.”

The report further stated that Ferrell and the 16-year-old had been having intercourse at various locations in Branch and Calhoun counties with the parents knowledge. The report claimed the girl was pregnant; she reportedly was not. It further reported an effort to get cooperation from the girl and her parents.

Both defense attorneys had claimed the prosecutors failed to provide all the evidence in the case to which the defendants were entitled under the U.S. Constitution. The defense had further claimed that neither Sgt. Gatke or Laurie Talbot, 31A Behavior Interventionist at Quincy Middle and High School, reported the abuse to the DHS hotline.

Talbot is credited with starting the investigation against Ferrell in the spring 2016 after concerns were raised about his conduct toward one of the drama club students.

It started in May 2016: “There was a lot of drama in the drama department because of what the kids saw,' Talbot testified.

It was reported that while no one saw any physical contact, except for the victim swatting Ferrell on the rear, the other students felt Ferrell was fostering an environment of favorites.

"It was a lot more than jealousy," Talbot testified.

Talbot had reported some abuse to the state hotline in other cases. The question of Talbot being a mandatory reporter was raised because she works as a private contractor and not as a teacher or counselor.

The victim had come to the life skills staff about "worries and concerns" but there was nothing physical happening between Ferrell and the girl. The girl then reportedly cut off all contact between Talbot and a counselor until after Ferrell's arrest.

Talbot said she never spoke with anyone who reported affectionate contact between Ferrell and the student. But, by the fall 2016, "I believed things had gone further and they were physical by the end of September."

Talbot also said she was alarmed to learn the only keys to the drama room at Quincy High School were with Ferrell and police. Pressed by Reed whether Talbot had any proof against Ferrell, Talbot said, "he was convicted, wasn't he? I wasn't wrong. I knew it in my heart."

Warned by the judge about incrimination rights, Talbot invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked about her role as an employee of the school but later answered the questions.

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